# Chapter 45
Lee Hwan only started moving after the pain in his body had subsided somewhat. The passage leading to the hidden room was long and narrow, though not overly dark. However, as he squeezed through the tight gap, memories of the past came flooding back, making his heart pound loudly.
The smell of soil was everywhere. He wasn’t sure what that smell was exactly, but there was also something like cold stone and patches of fresh grass scent.
All he could see was the narrow passage right in front of him. Finally reaching his destination after moving his feet, he found a space just big enough for one person to barely stand. Small enough that he could touch the walls on any side by stretching out his hand.
And, embedded shallowly in the middle of one wall, was an unmistakable blue jewel—a skill stone.
‘…Gravity.’
The moment he touched it, a pleasant refreshing sensation swept through his body. As if it had been waiting for him, blue light suddenly burst forth all at once.
Lee Hwan forcefully tore out the skill stone, opened his palm, and stared at it intently. The mysterious blue color that seemed to glow and then fade created a sense of wonder. He could hear his heartbeat gradually accelerating.
From the moment he held the skill stone in his hand, Lee Hwan could physically sense what ability it contained. Skill stones were jewels exclusively for Awakened people, only they could feel and use them.
As the rocket-sized skill stone flashed with light, Lee Hwan, as if entranced, immediately picked it up and swallowed it.
‘This time, I ate it myself.’
The moment it passed down Lee Hwan’s throat, the skill stone dissolved and disappeared without any sense of foreign material. And simultaneously…
[New! You have acquired a new skill.]
A welcome message clearly appeared before his eyes.
* * *
Before his regression, Lee Hwan had never thought he could possess a skill stone. It was like how he would admire magnificent university buildings but never seriously consider when he might be able to afford one himself.
Of course, sometimes those untouchable skill stones seemed like sour grapes.
‘They say if it doesn’t match your compatibility, it only has negative effects anyway.’
People with that much money and power would never swallow a skill stone that wasn’t compatible with their abilities, yet he had such thoughts.
So basically, Lee Hwan was interested in skill stones but had rarely felt greedy for them, which made the time right after his regression quite thrilling.
It was as if several ownerless skill stones had suddenly appeared before his eyes.
‘Gravity skill stone.’
The reason it had come to mind first was partly because it was a skill that matched well with him, but it might also have been the result of brainwashing from someone’s constant mentions.
Crackle… crack!
A stone crumbled under Lee Hwan’s control. His red lips curved into a long smile.
‘Better than I thought.’
Gravity. A skill he thought would only be used to pressure enemies. Something to alleviate the fatigue of spatial abilities, nothing more, nothing less.
But when the gravity skill met the spatial ability, its power manifested with remarkable flexibility.
First, the adjustment range that had been limited to just 0.2 tons far exceeded its limits with the buff from the spatial ability. Of course, it became increasingly burdensome the more weight was added or subtracted, but in emergencies, there’s a big difference between not using something and not being able to use it.
Moreover, it seemed like the range he could handle had increased a bit. Since he’d never used the gravity skill before, he couldn’t say for certain, but a mere C-grade skill shouldn’t be this versatile.
Finally, selective concentration became possible when using the ability.
Crackle, crack!
Lee Hwan crushed another stone and smiled with satisfaction again.
The gravity he knew was a simple skill that just added or subtracted 0.2 tons of weight within a range. But now, under Lee Hwan’s hand, that ability was concentrated in a localized area.
If he focused his ability on certain spaces, he could apply slightly heavier use just to those parts. This still felt like forcibly drawing out his ability, but the important thing was that it was somehow possible.
As proof, Lee Hwan had already crushed two stones.
‘Well, the stones don’t look particularly hard…’
In any case, crushing them with his ability meant that weight had been applied on top of the stones in overlapping layers.
It was an amazing synergy effect. It might not match an S-grade skill from the beginning, but it was perhaps a combination as powerful as Taesung’s whirlwind or explosion.
* C Gravity
– Adjusts gravity in a designated space.
Lee Hwan, having opened his skill window, clenched his fist in excitement.
Satisfaction gently scratched his mind as it passed through. It felt like playing with space more completely. It was a sensation he usually felt when setting conditions on designated spaces or when controlling objects like telekinesis… but due to the penalty, he had barely used it since his regression.
Now that sensation had returned, swirling around his body. Even the penalty had become much lighter.
So this was why Kang Taesung had brought it up. He liked it enough to think that naturally. Lee Hwan exhaled sharply.
To think he’d given something like this away. To have put it in some Englishman’s mouth. If he hadn’t known better, if he hadn’t eaten it this time, he might have died from stomach pain before the monster wave even arrived.
Before, Taesung’s words about regretting the gravity skill stone had sounded like a pointless joke. Now Lee Hwan was keenly experiencing its greatness.
Right. With a skill stone this effective, gates that should have required several people could be entered by just Taesung and Lee Hwan. Kang Taesung’s bus was always comfortable and exciting.
Now Lee Hwan had gained part of that crazy synergy effect too.
‘With this, I won’t have to worry even if I face that Kang Taesung bastard right now.’
He thought of Taesung, who might still be waiting for him outside. The memory of the past Taesung who had tried to give him the gravity skill stone, which had lingered in his mind until just now, was regretfully erased.
Having achieved his goal, he now had to escape from Taesung’s attack. Lee Hwan slowly simulated the battle in his head.
Wrap space around himself and exit, sticking close to the gate. If Taesung was in his right mind, he wouldn’t set the gate on fire. Instead, if he rushed in physically and created a slight opening, Lee Hwan would press down on Taesung with gravity and flee while he was caught off guard.
A method that wouldn’t work twice… but well, he didn’t want to fight the guy like this twice anyway.
So one worry was taken care of. The next problem was the betrayer sponsor bastard.
‘Kang Dongha.’
Lee Hwan realized for the first time that when anger and confusion are excessive, words don’t even come out. When he thought of that guy’s face, his name, his breath was completely blocked, his mouth shut tight.
‘I should have smashed his head with the golf club back then, not the ball.’
Lee Hwan returned to the gate passage through the narrow gap, chewing over his anger. Was it because his head was hot? The already cool internal air felt particularly cold.
Lee Hwan dug out a few stones from the hidden room and exited the gate with cold eyes. Walking with spatial skill wrapped around his surroundings, his neck was stiff with tension. He resolved to quickly counter any attacks that might come and to attack first if he saw anyone.
But there wasn’t even a hint of human presence around the gate as dusk fell.
‘…Did he just leave me and go back?’
It was behavior he couldn’t readily understand. Judging from Taesung’s actions since immediately after the regression, it wouldn’t have been strange if he had gone back for gasoline while Lee Hwan fled into the gate.
It was truly incomprehensible. Thinking this, after checking the safety of the surroundings for a while, Lee Hwan dashed out and left the mountain.
* * *
Upper floor of Research Building D.
Bang!
The heavy door opened wide without any knock. Inside, Kang Dongha was seated neatly at his desk. He stopped what he was doing, pushed aside some scraps of paper, and raised his head.
Lee Hwan listened for a moment to make sure no one was coming, and only then closed the door. Unlike his forceful entry, it was a careful gesture.
Click.
When the sound of the door locking was heard, Kang Dongha’s gaze slowly shifted to Lee Hwan’s hand.
Kang Dongha was calmer than expected. With an expression suggesting he knew Lee Hwan would come looking for him with rage, he slowly removed the glasses he had been wearing.
He didn’t pretend to be scared like before, nor did he smirk obnoxiously. That made him even more obnoxious. His face was surprisingly serious and cold, just as Lee Hwan had first seen him at the bar.
“You have something to say?”
At Lee Hwan’s question, Kang Dongha dryly looked him over. Completely disheveled hair, a half-collapsed mask that he probably broke himself. The exposed face was beginning to show blue bruises, and beneath that, his lips were all split.
His clothes, soaked with blood in places, were tattered. On his arms and neck were distinctly red handprints. Anyone could easily discern that he had been severely beaten.
And that most of the injuries bore human traces, rather than what one would expect from entering a gate to kill monsters.
“Looks like you’re very angry.”
Kang Dongha stated the obvious. His tone was calm, as if just making a casual observation.
Normally, Lee Hwan would have flared up and made threats, but instead, he silently stared at that face. His expression suggested he wanted to hear what extraordinary excuse might come out.
In the office, only Lee Hwan’s murderous gaze and the deep, settled silence suffocatingly floated in the air. A quiet room in a sharp atmosphere. Finally, in the midst of the silence, Kang Dongha spoke first again.
“Why don’t you sit down for now?”
“…”
“If you don’t want to, that can’t be helped.”
Kang Dongha didn’t offer twice. He simply continued speaking to Lee Hwan, who remained standing, with composure.
“You know, do you remember? When you said before that if you were an industrial spy, you would have gone to Kang Dongying instead of me.”
Though his expression was calm, his lips were parched, suggesting he was somewhat tense. It must be due to an instinct that uncannily detected danger, despite living a life far from combat, let alone fistfights.
“That’s right. Thanks to that, even when you approached me, I didn’t think you came looking for me because of my ability.”
“Is that your final excuse?”
He kept beating around the bush. When Lee Hwan asked stiffly, Kang Dongha’s eyebrow twitched.
I gave him time to explain his meddling with Taesung, but why is he rambling about himself? Lee Hwan thought, twitching his eyebrow in the same way.
But when the main point finally came out, it was Lee Hwan who froze.
“I’ve known all along that you joined me because you’re Kang Taesung’s stalker.”
